Chris Lawn

I often think on why I do this. Write about games. This year has felt like an inflection point; we’ve had the most “highly rated” video game releases in a year maybe ever, while an estimated 9,000 developers, artists, community managers, level designers, QA testers and every other discipline in the industry have been laid off. I know I love this industry, and all the joy, thoughtfulness and inspiration it brings the world. If you’re reading this, it’s likely you do to. I worry for where it’s headed.

Hero’s Adventure: Road to Passion was not an RPG that was on my radar at all, though given it’s place as an open ended wuxia tactics RPG that holds a number of similarities to Wandering Sword, it should have been. Dropping in early access this past March, the game initially was only available in Chinese. As of hitting 1.0 in November, the game is fully playable to English, thanks in large part to some hardcore fans thirsty to break the wuxia drought over in the west.

2023 has been an amazing year for fantastic video game releases. Through some metrics, it’s been the best year of releases in 20 years. However, these metrics only account for the most reviewed games you already know about, leaving an absolute wealth of hidden gems just begging to be discovered, played and enjoyed. In what is now an annual tradition (doing something more than once makes it a tradition, right?) here’s a look at five of my favourite hidden indie game gems of 2023.